What's left in my area are two "mega-stores." Ten minutes away is a pet store with a lot of generic horse items; an hour away is a mega-horse outlet that has great selection but very busy staff (service is spotty). If I travel a bit further (over an hour) there are some smaller, more personal stores, but frankly they're looking a little dingy.
I do buy alot online. What about you guys? Are tack shops going the way of bookstores?
.jpg)
Tack stores are disappearing around here, too. The only ones that can survive are more like farm supply stores with a tack section. Sadly, I can't do much to help because most of what I buy isn't available locally. Almost everyone here rides western on gigantmo Quarter Horses. No endurance tack for lighter horses to be found. :(
ReplyDeleteVery few places to get horse related items around us. One small very Western store and one English, focus on Hunter store.
ReplyDeleteWe shop once a year at the horse expo near us - but sure wish we had more places to shop!
I hope they don't all go away. I don't buy leather goods without seeing them in person. And I would hate to be limited to only buying the clothes exactly like what I already have. There are a couple of stores here that should survive no matter what. Others have closed or gone online. There used to be a lot.
ReplyDeleteClosest to me is another "mega store" type of tack shop, and it really is most convenient if I need something in a pinch -- fly spray, poultice, etc. But if I can help it, I go out of my way to support a smaller store, because they're generally more knowledgeable and friendly.
ReplyDeleteSmall Shop has the same group of ladies that have been there for as long as I've known the place, and they know me and my horses by name. Mega Store has one or two managers that know where I work (since I go most often for the farm), but is mostly staffed by a high turnover of teenagers that don't know the difference between vet wrap and RapLast.
I'm not a heavy spender by any means, but if I WAS on the market for a big ticket item, I'd rather give Small Shop the support!
Rick's Saddle Shop here in NJ has three stores and there's Heritage Saddlery in Pennsylvania, all of which seem to be doing just fine. I buy my feed at Rick's and often shop the clothing and tack racks.
ReplyDeleteThere's Stitching Horse Leathers nearby too. I haven't been to Beval's in a while, nor to Coach Stop which is up near the USET. And Toll Booth is a bit south of here. So far we seem to have a lot of options.
However, I do shop online for a lot of items.
Oops, meant to add...many of these stores have online sales as well, including The Tack Shelter in Colt's Neck...kind of east of here. So perhaps they do the best of both worlds' business.
ReplyDeleteRick's sends out all kinds of coupons and special offers through email.
In a word, YEP!
ReplyDeleteummm- yes.
ReplyDeletethis has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions....
Hey anon, I'm flattered that you keep 'a comin' back.
ReplyDeleteIn the last couple of years, there have been some tack store closings around here too. I think with online buying (the economy on top of that), how can a store compete? It's so convenient to just hop online and find exactly what you want, when you want it, usually at a better price than what an actual store could offer and quickly do price comparisons on other sites.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I miss going into a tack shop and seeing everything and being able to touch things. Online shopping has come at a cost and unfortunately that is at the nice "mom and pop" shops expense.
Anon out of sheer laziness- ok, fixed that.
ReplyDeleteDiscretionary income has taken a big hit, even with those of us lucky enough to still have the option ( no, make that compulsion) to spend it on horses. And there aren't that many of us relative to the general population, even down here in sofla. Tack shops have to sell just as much to an ever shrinking population. It's very tough, but they are no different from any other independent vs big box. And for those of us squeezing nickels to keep our horses in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed ( far nicer shoes than mine!) that means paying 13.78 for a rubber stall chain online instead of 40.00 ( yes, really) at my local.
I do think that many tack stores will go the way of book stores but not all of them. We have a store in our area (Twin Cities, MN) that specializes in western wear and tack. I think this really helps them diversify because they can market to the non-horsey people that come to buy jeans, boots and hats.
ReplyDeleteThe English store in our area recently was sold to a long-time employee. She is advertising that she will meet any advertised price.
Although it's often more convenient to shop online I really try to support locally owned independent retailers whenever possible.
Luckily there were never many tack store in my area to begin with, so the few that are around serve a very large horse community and are doing reasonably well. Combine that with the fact that the tack shops have trailers and sell at local (which also happen to be large) horse shows, they are not going anywhere. My favorite tack shop (The Horse and Rider) has a great selection and AWESOME service. I love it.
ReplyDeleteWe have a small store from a big franchise here in town. Except for a feed store, that's it.
ReplyDeleteEldest and I just spent twelve hours on a road trip today, down to Toronto (and back with a three hour detour added in when one highway closed for an accident) all to visit a great consignment tack & apparel shop: Repeat Rider. We got her a great pair of field boots that fit her perfectly (would have preferred dress boots but nothing suitable in stock) for $200 plus we found a brand new jacket at 50% off.
Better to buy quality even if we spent a lot of time and gas money getting these as opposed to the stuff they sell at the franchise store!
We have 5 indie bookstores going strong and 4 tack shops plus a consignment tack shop going strong w/in a 30-40 minute drive from our farm. I try hard to support all of them (as best I can on a tight budget) as they each have a slightly different character and ambiance - I hope they all stay busy and continue to do well.
ReplyDeleteBookstores are pretty much gone in my area. I never used them anyway, because I found Amazon to be much easier, and my Kindle books to be much cheaper and easier to carry around (carrying around a book of all of Shakespeare's sonnets is not practical! But if I can carry that AND many other books in a smaller package.........)
ReplyDeleteAs for Tack Shops, there's two local ones that I never really visit, although I think the Tack Shop of Austin is doing the best out of the two, because there seems to be a big Hunter and Dressage community in Central Texas and it's centrally located with a relatively big selection. It was nice to be able to go in actually try on boots and breeches before I bought them (but that was a one-time thing, my wallet would never allow such occurrences to happen more frequently haha). Also, a big H/J barn in the area has an on-site tack shop for the boarders, not a bad idea. However, I find the tack shops to often be more expensive than buying online, and of more limited selection. It was convenient to be able to actually try stuff on and physically hold things to determine the quality before I bought them, that beat out the price most of the time instead of having to pay for shipping to return something. For saddlery I go through my fitter, I don't think I would ever buy a saddle online. Of course, that obviously does not happen on a frequent basis either.
Oh, and there's two chain feed stores with a very limited English tack selection, mostly Western and mostly first aid and medicinal stuff for equines. And even then it's more expensive than buying online. But if I need something in a pinch.....
I guess growing up in the "internet age" I must sadly say that I never really grew up around "mom and pop" businesses. Most of them went out of business quickly, so I never got attached nor used to doing business with them. It is a shame, but I don't know if I could let go of some of the conveniences of the internet easily. Just my luck!
Probably so; the economy, internet, and the fizzling of the horse industry finally caught up with them.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Mom & Pop shops have it all over the "big boys" through more personal (and friendly) customer service. I shop Ace instead of Lowe's or Home Depot when I can because it's locally owned and I don't have to walk 20 miles to find help (not only that, but the employees actually know what they sell there ;o)
I used to live quite close to the Paddock and it was a great store. Sorry to learn of it's demise. The biggest issue for local stores is that everyone searches the Internet for better prices . . . and in this economy, who can blame them!
ReplyDeleteI currently live within 30 minutes of SmartPak and Dover, both of which I frequent. But usually I shop in the clearance section because everything is so darn expensive. And for big ticket items, like saddles, I always buy used.
Not here! We have a great local shop, Wilton Tack, that stocks all the latest stuff, has great prices and great staff. They too will match any price. Here in Canada the only mega tack store is Greenhawk, but even they open up small franchises. But Wilton has better prices and better selection, so I stick with them.
ReplyDeleteCross border shipping and customs costs are probably saving our local market.
We only have a few around here too - small shops. One is generally always over priced, and never seems to have what Im looking for anyways. The other is farther away and personally I have never been there due to distance. Then theres another one that is only consignment - good deals, but its a hit and miss type of situation. Finally, theres another one about an hour away, but generic stuff, nothing special really and again sort of hit and miss. I do tend to buy a lot online because of the cheaper price. I buy a lot of things second-hand but in still usable shape.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, my favorite local tack shop was Ruthie's Tack Shop on Route 517 in Oldwick, NJ. She had the best selection of tack, clothing, do-dads, and goodies. I used to love going there so much that my mom would take me there if I had to endure an unpleasant dentist appointment, like fillings.
ReplyDeleteJean mentioned a lot of the stores in the New Jersey area, but most are too far for me and I can find better prices and selection online. I frequent a local pet supply/feed store whenever I need things like flyspray or hoof care products or cookies. They are so helpful and friendly. If they have the products, I buy it there to try and support the local business. Our farm also buys feed from them.
The feed stores tend to have western gear as well as equipment needed around the barn, so we purchase from the locals for that stuff when we can. They will order special requests and don't really mark things up over what we could find them for online, so it's great to support them.
ReplyDeleteThere's only one close local tack shop left, and it's in a smaller shop than it was for 20 or so years while I was growing up (and possibly longer, I'm not sure.) The owner goes to shows to see her customers in person and see if they need anything, and is great - so I support them when I can. They don't have a huge selection because it's not cost effective for them to have one, but I went there when it was time to order custom boot$ (ouch - it was necessary to get boots which fit).
I see two trends popping up which I think will keep tack stores going. One is the tack shop which puts its inventory online and ships elsewhere. I know how much it costs to do the point of sale software for restaurants, so I imagine getting an entire inventory online is even more pricey and takes diligence from all employees. But it allows a store to have an online presence and keep the face-to-face relationships.
The other thing I'm seeing is tack shops existing solely out of trailers. The barn we had our horses boarded at before building our own place had a tack shop which "lived" there which was the converted trailer of a tractor trailer. It tended to gear toward the hunter jumper crowd so wasn't always carrying what we wanted, but given the big circuits they could go to were all h/j that made a lot of sense! There's another trailer based out of a barn down the street from there which is a smaller trailer they can pull with their own massive truck, and it focuses more on the eventing and breed show communities. Lower budget, but many more interesting things. They display tack based on which show they're at, and get to as many trade shows to get the newest products as they can. The problem with the moveable tack stores is they aren't always there when you want them to be, if there's a show going on somewhere!
Look at equus now in columbus ohio, they have a website, and do phone orders as well. they are by far the best tack store I have ever seen. I lived in ohio most of my life, a year ago moved to the ny/ct area, and now I am in Pa for a year, trust me, no one beats EQUUS!!!!
ReplyDelete